- On April 29, CBS televisions 60 Minutes II program screened
graphic images of Iraqi prisoners being tortured and sexually humiliated
by US troops at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. The photographs, which
show American soldiersmen and womensmiling, laughing or giving thumbs-up
signs alongside naked Iraqi prisoners, expose the sadistic and brutal methods
employed by American forces and provide more evidence of the catalog of
war crimes being committed by US-led forces in Iraq.
-
- One of the pictures shows an Iraqi prisoner standing
on a box with a hood over his head. Electric wires are attached to his
hands. He was told that if he fell off the box he would be electrocuted.
Another photograph is of naked male detainees stacked in a pyramid shape,
one of the men has a slur written on his skin in English. In some pictures,
prisoners are positioned to simulate sex with each other while US troops
point and laugh.
-
- The photos have surfaced in connection with the suspension
in March of 17 members of the 800th Military Police Brigade for mistreatment
and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in November and December of
last year. The jail was infamous for torture and executions under the Saddam
Hussein regime.
-
- Six of those suspended were charged with dereliction
of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault and indecent actsthe militarys
term for sexual abuseand could be court-martialed and jailed.
-
- Military investigators have also recommended that disciplinary
action be brought against seven US officers in charge of the prison, including
Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the 800th Brigades commander.
-
- While the US Army revealed these violations last month,
it has attempted to prevent any detailed information leaking to the media.
Army officials, however, were forced to appear on the high-rating television
program after other news outlets were given copies of the photographs.
-
- The Army told 60 Minutes II that it had numerous photos,
including a picture of a detainee with electric wires attached to his genitals,
a dog attacking an Iraqi prisoner and a dead Iraqi prisoner who had been
badly beaten at the prison. One civilian interrogator had smashed several
tables in order to fear up prisoners. The television show also revealed
that the Army is investigating allegations by an Iraqi detainee that a
prison translator at Abu Ghraib raped a male juvenile detainee. Part of
the prisoners testimony states: They covered all the doors with sheets.
I heard the screaming ... and the female soldier was taking pictures.
-
- These acts of sadism and cruelty constitute a blatant
violation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and are war crimes as defined by Article
3 of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of war prisoners. Article
3 prohibits: a. violence to life and person, in particular murder of all
kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; b. taking hostages;
-
- c. outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating
and degrading treatment. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief
of military operations in Iraq, told 60 Minutes II that the torture was
reprehensible and claimed that those facing charges were not representative
of American soldiers in Iraq. Dont judge your army by the actions of a
few, he said. Americans need to understand that is not the Army.
-
- These mendacious comments were refuted by CBSs chilling
interview with Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick, one of those
facing court martial.
-
- Frederick, a Virginia prison guard, is charged with assaulting
detainees, ordering prisoners to strike each other and an indecent act
for observing one of the sexual abuse incidents. He insisted, however,
that his actions were not those of a rogue soldier, but were sanctioned
and encouraged by military intelligence and the CIA.
-
- Along with other reservist jail guards, he was directed
to physically and mentally prepare Iraqi detainees for interrogation. He
said that dogs were also used as intimidation factors against prisoners.
One of Fredericks email messages said: Military intelligence has encouraged
and told us Great job. They usually dont allow others to watch them interrogate.
But since they like the way I run the prison, they have made an exception.
We help getting them
-
- [detainees] to talk with the way we handle them.... Weve
had a very high rate with our style of getting them to break. They usually
end up breaking within hours.
-
- As these comments make clear, torture in US-run Iraqi
prisons is an integral part of the illegal occupation. A systematic process
of brutalization is being directed from the upper ranks.
-
- At the same time, the fact that US soldiers are employing
methods similar to those used by the Nazis in World War II is indicative
of a deep-seated state of demoralization and degradation that the occupation
has bred within the US military. Finding themselves in a hostile environment
with the vast majority of Iraqis opposing the occupation, many American
soldiers have come to see the countrys entire population as the enemy.
Fed lies about the colonial intervention in Iraq being part of a global
war on terrorism, some have also assumed a license to torture and humiliate
their helpless captives.
-
- Contrary to Kimmitts claimsslavishly echoed by the corporate
mediathis is the logic and modus operandi of imperialist conquest and colonial
occupation. The pictures of torture, brutality and sexual sadism are representative
of the entire criminal operation being conducted in Iraq.
-
- Washington anticipated and prepared in advance for the
war crimes now being committed against the Iraqi people. No criminal charges
can be brought against a US soldier in Iraq because the Iraqi Governing
Council has given the American military a blanket amnesty from prosecution.
Secondly, with the backing of Germany and a number of other countries,
no US soldier or citizen can be prosecuted for war crimes in the International
Criminal Court.
-
- The 60 Minutes II broadcast has provided only a partial
glimpse of the crimes being carried out by US forces in Iraq and elsewhere.
The conditions in Iraqi jails, where over 18,000 prisoners are being held,
are replicated in a network of US-run concentration camps around the world.
These include Guantanamo Bay, Diego Garcia, Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
According to current estimates, the US is incarcerating over 25,000 detainees
in these hellholes, in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
-
- http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/1/2004&Cat=2&Num=023
|